CEC says opposition appeal is 'groundless'
Armenia’s Constitutional Court continues the hearing of an appeal demanding annulment of the official results of the April 2 parliamentary elections. The appeal was submitted by the Congress-HZhK alliance. CC Chairman Gagik Harutyunyan refused the motion of the alliance representatives who wanted to attach additional material to the material. Harutyunyan tried to justify his decision saying it would make them postpone the hearing and study the documents. Karen Bisharyan, an authorized representative of the Office of Prosecutor General, wondered why the alliance did not appeal to their Office if it had information about violations at hand. Levon Zurabyan, Vice-Chairman of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), the reason was that the alliance did not trust the the Office of Prosecutor General and blamed it of ‘criminal inaction.’ Gagik Harutyunyan reprimanded Karen Bisharyan saying he was supposed to ask questions without any interpretations. To prove his statement, Levon Zurabyan cited the scandalous recordings of school principals and directors of kindergartens and added that no one was punished after the ‘revelation of the crime.’ Whether you like it or not, now we are going to hear the augments of the respondent,” said Gagik Harutyunyan. Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), Tigran Mukuchyan, said the recordings had nothing to do with the content of the appeal. “We are dealing with an appeal which is absolutely groundless and has mistakes in it,” he said.
